Killer Kitties

From gods to pets

Don't be fooled by how cute they are sleeping on the couch. Once outside, your cat becomes a fearsome predator.

It’s hard to imagine a time when humans didn’t love cats. In ancient Egypt, cat-faced gods appeared in temples and tombs. For their many qualities, we kept them close. Trouble with mice in the granary? Rats in the hold of your ship? Not a problem for these elegant felines. Cats sailed around the world and soon popped up anywhere. 

And while they rarely reach the top of the lists of invasive species, they should. Over time, we allowed cats to live rent-free in our homes as pets. The reality is: they’ll murder anything small, with a pulse, and clean up after as if nothing happened. 

Killer instinct

Not only are cats stealthy killers; there are so many of them. At least 127 million domestic cats live in Europe. In the US, people own roughly 100 million of them. Some of them live their lives indoors, while others are free to roam.

Although domestic cats are a part of the problem, feral cats—who live off the spoils of their hunts—are responsible for most of the wildlife kills. In a time of biodiversity decline, our booming cat population isn’t helping. They go after 2000 species of birds, reptiles, mammals, insects, and amphibians worldwide, of which hundreds are of preservation concern.